The Lowe’s Model of Missions

The trend of North American local churches and world outreach for the past decade has been the Lowe’s home improvement model, do it yourself or…”Let’s build something.”  Rather than hiring a plumber or carpenter, let’s save money (surely not time) and just do it ourselves.  In the same vain, instead of depending on a mission organization or American missionaries on the field in reaching the world with the Gospel, many American congregations have adopted the philosophy of let’s just do it ourselves.  We, the local church, can save money, engage our local congregation in projects better than the old model of sending missionaries.

There is a certain ring of truth to this trend.  It cost a great deal of money to send North Americans overseas and in today’s economics the expense is outstripping the budget, as the IMB announced last week when they determined they are forced to reduce their missions staff by 800 people (http://www.imb.org/updates/storyview-3509.aspx#.Ve3DbShDIws).  However, beyond economics, the Lowe’s model of missions is, mostly about meeting the needs of the local church. 

What are the motivations for Lowe’s model of missions. 

FOCUSED MINISTRY - We will target the people and fields we want to support.  Example, instead of supporting a North American missionary family going to Germany, which we are not interested in, we will support a national pastor working among the Aka pygmies in the DRC. 

ECONOMICS – Instead of supporting the Western missionary for $200 per month, which is not even 3% of his needed monthly support, we can use that $200 to sustain a national pastor for a month.

 HANDS-ON – Along with focus we can engage our local congregation in taking trips to work alongside the national, build orphanages, have feeding programs and provide leadership seminars.  We can, in some ways, duplicate our church in the states overseas. 

On the surface it looks like the Lowe’s model of missions makes more sense than contracting a professional.  However, below the surface, where reality resides, we find a different story. 

ARROGANCE – The Lowe’s model of missions is a little like the song from Annie Get Your Gun, “Anything you can do I can do better.  I can do anything better than you” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO23WBji_Z0).   Just because the American church can finance a program doesn’t mean they know how to do missions better.  It’s true, the Western church can make ministry on the field look shinny and appear successful, but it’s arrogance to think it’s better than what a North American missionary on the field can do. 

MISSIOLOGICALLY NAÏVE – There is no evidence that supporting a national pastor, missionary or church planter is more effective than a North American.  Cheaper, yes, but saving money is not the issue, or shouldn’t be.  I have been working with nationals for thirty years.  I have met and worked with some indigenous servants who were really gifted and blessed of God.  I have met others who were inept and ineffective.  Due to tribe, caste or socio-economics, in some cases, nationals are actually less effective than North Americans.  An Indian from the south is not naturally a more effective in outreach to Hindu’s to the north.  Indeed, because they do not know language or know the culture of those in the north, they could easily be more of a liability than a blessing.

THEOLOGICALLY INCONSISTENT - An American church I am familiar with recently ceased funding American missionaries all over the world to focus on a particular unreached people group in South Asia.  The reports of people coming to Christ and churches being established by the nationals were staggering.  In visiting this indigenous mission I was stunned at their lack of understanding of basic Bible doctrine.  In fact, our guide from this mission stated openly that he thought going to a seminary was a waste of time, remarking that most false teaching is due to people going to seminaries!  Over the course of two days I visited several of their churches in the region.  Not one time was the Bible opened.  Every testimony from the church members was conversion through healing, some from deafness, cancer and one reported to have risen from the dead. 

The American congregation that supported this indigenous mission is a solid, conservative and theologically strong church.  There is no way that they would allow the teaching from this South Asia congregation to creep into their church.  Yet, they have invested thousand of dollars into this national organization.  Why?  The only thing I can think of is due to the naïveté of this church’s mission leadership. 

CHANGE TO THE SLOGAN

The Lowe’s model of missions needs a different focus and a new theme.  This will mean a remodeling of our thinking, including better training among American churches and indigenous leaders in missions.  It will mean a bit more humility, on both sides, than stating “anything you can do I can better.”  It means recognizing that, indeed, the old ways of doing missions needs to be analyzed, but also recognize that not all those in the West are disqualified from serving Christ cross-culturally.  The 3.6 billion people in this world who have never met a Christian will not be reached with the Lowe’s model of missions.   Rather than state, “Let’s build something,” Lowe’s current slogan is more appealing…”Never Stop Improving.”

Keys To Effective Missionary Training

FOUR KEYS TO EFFECTIVE TRAINING PROGRAM 

Through a partnership between LCCTI and Glenwood Baptist Church in Kansas City, we provided a missionary training program called Double Time last week. Here are four keys that made it successful.


1. LEARNERS - There are three types of people who attend special meetings: Prisoners (they are there because someone made them attend - Visitors (love to fellowship, eat and have a good time) - Learners…obviously serious students with a focus. Those who attended DOUBLE TIME this year were motivated learners.


2. ACCOMODATIONS – Environment goes a long way in setting the tone for classes. If the motel breakfast is a bagel in a bag hung on the room door and cockroaches on the shower floor begins the day, class time is already has an uphill climb. DT students commented that they really appreciated their accommodations.

3. CONTENT – Trying to teach a two-week course in three days is impossible. However, we chose the most important and practical subjects to tackle and, based on the evaluations, I believe DT hit the mark. One missionary stated, “The classes opened my eyes to so many characteristics of culture and methods of research that can be recognized and used for my field. Preparation breeds confidence, and I feel more knowledgeable on how to work on the field.”

4. HOST – Hands down, the success of DT was because of our host, Glenwood Baptist Church. GBC didn’t just host a missionary training program, they made an investment in the lives of those who attended; underwriting some of the accommodations, catering the lunches, providing child care and even making sure there was plenty of snacks for breaks. 

Plans are taking shape for DT/KC in 2016, and we have already heard from missionaries who will be on furlough next year who want to attend.

Perhaps your church or organization would be interested in a Double Time intensive.  Contact us to learn more how we can help you in your training needs.

Mercy Rescue Trust

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While in Kenya this past month my wife and granddaughter visited a children’s home called Mercy Rescue Trust.  Mercy rescues abandoned, orphaned or vulnerable young children and babies.  They currently have 26 babies and children at the home.  The oldest is 13 years old and the youngest is just a couple of months old.  Their aim is to live and care for these children as best as they can, provide for their daily needs, give them a good education and loving place they can call home.  Where possible they try to find new and loving forever families for them or reconnect them with their biological families.  

I have been in missions nearly 40 years.  I have seen some really good programs for children and some that are questionable. The quality of any endeavor, business, church or organization is in those who are in leadership.  Jedidah Mvula seems to be one of the most self-less Christian young ladies I have met in a long time.  Her father is a pastor from Zambia, her mother from England.  She told Sandy that “Since the age of 15 I have wanted to work with children.”  She lives on the compound with three other Mercy workers, sleeps there and often when a child is sick they sleep in Jedidah’s room.  She is with the kids 24/7.

    

The board of directors of Mercy is in the UK and they operate on a shoe-string.  Can you imagine the laundry that must be done each day for 26 kids?  While we were there we purchased a blender for them and hope to raise enough funds for a cooker.  Their on-going needs include kitchen utensils, school bags, shoes, boys and girls underwear, Bibles, baby blankets, towels and spit-up cloths.

If you’d like to learn more about Mercy, go their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/mercyrescuetrust.  If you would like to contribute some of their needs, contact us, Lewis Cross-Cultural Training, drrglewis@gmail.com and we will contact you with Jedidah who has set up a PayPal account.

Forty Year Veteran Missionary

A single missionary working in Latin American called and asked, “I’ve been on the field 40 years, would your training have any benefit for me?”

I paused and stammered a bit.  I told her that I wouldn’t presume that I could teach anything to someone over 70 years old.  In the course of the conversation she told me she teaches in their Bible College teaching men and women preparing for the pastorate and cross-cultural missions.  At that point I told her, “Yes, absolutely, I believe you would benefit from such training.   “In fact,” I continued, “it’s possible that you will gain even more from the classes than those attending who have not yet been on the field.”

I was over 40 years old and had been in Kenya over ten years when I took my first courses in intercultural studies at Biola University.  In those classes in cultural anthropology, linguistics, cross-cultural communication and the dynamics of religious experience the lights went on for me because it was not just theory but life I experiencing in Africa.  It was because of those courses that I eventually focused my doctoral dissertation on how to best to plant churches to a specific people group.

Like many missionaries in my day, and still true today, my preparation for overseas work was limited to theology courses.  Good stuff, necessary for the task of ministry, but woefully lacking in how to take what I knew to a people group that were illiterate, tribal and animistic.  Thirty years later I am still learning how cultures work and how best to enter into a specific culture that is contextual and more culturally relevant. 

Whether you are new in mission work or a seasoned veteran, whether you are going to do youth work, train indigenous leaders or social work, no matter if your focus will be in the urban West or the backwaters of Asia, it is my belief that DOUBLE TIME will be worth your time and money.  Mark your calendar for August 25 -27 and go to this website for more information and registration.

For more information on this training event CLICK HERE.

Missionary Training Opportunity

TIME and MONEY.  Those are the two things that I must consider in everything I do.  When someone invites me to teach cross-cultural missions I always have to check two things…my budget and my calendar.

There are precious few options for pre-field training for North American missionaries.  And, if you are able to find training opportunities it usually is too long (TIME) and too costly (MONEY).

Last month I was asked if I would provide training for a missionary family going to Western Europe working among Muslims.  Knowing that TIME is important for missionaries raising support (difficult to take off a weeks of visiting churches and donors for training) and, that MONEY is always an issue for missionaries trying to get to the field, I agreed, on two conditions.  First, it must be concentrated…to save TIME.  Second, it be affordable.

Through the cooperation of a church in Kansas City, LCCTI  is instituting a three-day intensive program we call DOUBLE TIME: Accelerated Missionary Training to be held August 25 – 27.

TIME – August is the dog-days of support raising.  Churches do not usually schedule mission conferences or missionary speakers in August.  Missionaries attending DOUBLE TIME will have Monday (August 24^th) to travel to KC and still have time to get to their next Sunday’s destination after it concludes on Thursday.

TIME – To make the most of the intensive, those who sign up for the class will be sent the text reading 15 day before the class.  Additional reading and assignments will be given during the training and the student has two months to complete the assignments.

MONEY -  Housing for these sessions has been secured at a very nice hotel at a reduced rate.  Breakfast and lunch is provided.  The cost for the three day training is $150.00 per person, $250 per couple.  

In a recent survey I asked how many pastors would be willing to underwrite the cost of training for their missionaries.  Over 75% said they would.  I encourage pastors to send their missionary candidates to DOUBLE TIME, and for the missionary wanting to attend this class I suggest they approach their donors to help in the cost.

To register or inquire about DOUBLE TIME, contact Chris - car@kc.rr.com

Are They Muslims, Christians, Jews or Devil Worshipers?

Shalom Students

One of the benefits of teaching cross-cultural studies is the knowledge I gain in the process.  In some formal settings where I teach I assign students to study a people group or cultural group that is not their own.  Most of the places where I teach their libraries are limited and even their access to Internet resources are restricted.  In spite of the disadvantages, their research introduces me to a world that I did not know exist.  Here is two people group report (two more next post) from my recent class with Shalom Biblical Seminary, which I found interesting.

Yezidi of Iraq

If you stay current with the fighting in northern Syria and on the border of Iraq, you may have heard of the Yezidi (Yazidi).  These people are monotheistic though they are neither Muslim nor Christian.  A persecuted group, sometimes accused of “devil worship,” they believe God did not destroy the rebellious angel (Lucifer for Christians).  Space will not allow in this blog to discuss their belief system in depth, but it is a fascinating study and people group.  About 0.01% Yezidi’s are followers of Christ.  

One of my students provided this chart on the similarities of Yezidism, Christianity, Islam and Judiasim.

Religious practices in Yezidism similar with other religions.

Name of Religion	Practices adopted in Yezidism
Judaism	1. Do not eat pork or wear pigskin. 2. Do not mix meat and dairy. 3. Feast of Sacrifice – God calling Abraham to sacrifice his son – provides a lamb in place of his son. Yezidis commemorate Abraham’s experience by sacrificing a lamb. 4. They believed that they are descendants from Adam but not from Eve. 5. Circumcision (not compulsory).
Islam	1. Do not eat pork or wear pigskin, nor mix meat and dairy. 2. Do not eat lettuce, cabbage, okra, pumpkins, or gazelle meat among other foods. 3. Pilgrimage to Lalish for Yezidis, similar to pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslims. 4. Five daily prayers. Dawn Prayer, Sunrise Prayer, Noon Prayer, Afternoon Prayer, and the Sunset Prayer.
Christianity	1. Practice the rite of baptism; immersion in water for purposes of ritual cleansing and as a sign of belonging to the group. 2. No marriage in the month of April. Eastern Orthodox Christians tend not to marry in the spring as no marriage can be performed in the fifty days of Lent that precede the Easter celebration. 3. Yezidi women dye eggs in bright primary colors to celebrate the spring New Year festival just as many Eastern Christians do for the spring feast of Pascha (Easter). 4. The color red is emphasized during the Yezidi New Year festival with women decorating both houses and family graves with red flowers.  In a strange parallel, some Eastern Orthodox communities use only the color red when dying their Easter eggs. 5. Putting shells of colored eggshells on doors so that Tawus Malik will identify their homes can be sync closely with the Jewish practice of applying the blood of lamp on the door post during the Feast of Passover. 6. Every Yezidi is designated a "Brother or Sister of the Other World" on reaching puberty similar to Godparents.

   

They Kill Twins

The Akha live in the mountains of Burma, China, Thailand and Laos.  Though the Gospel has been had some success among the Akha of Myanmar, those in Laos remain unreached, 0.03% believers, their religion is a mixture of animism and ancestor worship.  

What interesting is their belief that twins are considered a curse.  Several cultures hold this belief, but others cultures see twins as a blessing.  Among the Akha, they believe that only animals could give birth to more than one offspring and therefore considered twins as beasts.  Two decades ago it was not uncommon for parents to kill twin babies.  As a twin myself, I’m glad we weren’t born Akha.

The Power of Influence

In every one of my classes I tell my students I have two objectives for the course.  First, to teach them as much as I know about cross-cultural missions, communication and church planting.  Second, to influence them to be global minded belivers. 

I realize that not many of those who take my class will end up serving cross-culturally.  Most of them, like the MDiv. students in Shalom Seminary, will probably remain in their home district, among their own tribe and clan.  That’s okay.  It is my hope that when they have completed their studies they will be world Christians as youth group leaders, teachers or pastors.  Certainly the principles I am teaching can help them in crossing cultural boundaries no matter what they do in the future.

Influence, while discipling, may one day lead others to take up the mantle and share these principles in ways that only the Lord can know.   I certainly had no idea that Shurhi, who was a young girl in my class in south India back in 2006, would one day be on the teaching staff of Shalom.  Among many of her duties, one class she teaches is Religions of the World.  In visiting with Shurhi this past week she told me that she has been accepted in a PhD. program in Oxford.  She asked if I would be willing to guide her in her study, which will be on Taboo in the Nagaland context. 

I marvel how the Lord uses each one of us in small ways to further His Kingdom.  I am thrilled how God has opened up this opportunity for Shurhi, and the others students who have been a part of my class down through the years.  The story of Shurhi should be an encouragement to all of us who faithfully serve the Lord in the position God has placed us.  I know it’s an encouragement for me this day, so many miles away from my family, as I prepare for another class to teach and influence.

Is Cross-Cultural Studies Only For Missionaries?

I am forever trying to explain the work of cross-cultural training.  Recently a good friend of mine had an epiphany of sorts.  I was explaining how important cross-cultural discipleship is for church workers in their own city, community and country.

“You mean cross-cultural training is not just for missionaries” he asked?

Certainly cross-cultural training is vital for those settling into foreign countries, but the study of cultures is every bit as relevant for those who live in a small town in Georgia as it is for those going to the country of Georgia (which by the way is a former Soviet Union state nestled between Russia, Turkey and Black Sea). 

On my website one of the first quotes you will see is by Donald McGavran, former missionary to India, professor at Fuller Seminary, church growth expert in the 1980’s and missiologist until he died at the ripe old age of 93.  His famous quote is,

“People will not easily cross-cultural boundaries to hear the Gospel.”

The implications of that statement are enormous.  First, we need to understand that in EVERY cultural context, whether it is Odessa, Ukraine or Odessa, Texas, we live in communities of cultural boundaries, which include:

            Ethnic Boundaries

            Socio-economic Boundaries

            Linguistic Boundaries

            Gender Boundaries

            Generational Boundaries

            Religious Boundaries

In every town, village and city in the world people will not easily cross cultural boundaries to assimilate into the community or go to church.  It does not matter if you have the best music program in the city or the best youth program in the county or you are the best preacher in the state, most people in your community will not cross the cultural boundaries to hear the music, have pizza with the your youth group or hear your dynamic sermons. 

The second implication of McGavran’s statement is that for the followers of Christ, our job is to Go and Take the Gospel, which implies that WE are to cross the cultural boundaries, go into their cultural setting, to present the Gospel.  We cannot, we dare not, expect people of different ethnicities, education or economic background to feel comfortable in our churches.  The mandate of the Great Commission is for us to go to them…not build a program and expect people to come to us.

Yes, it’s true, cross-cultural training is for people going to far-away countries.  The reality is, however, 90% of the nationals I teach in India, Ukraine, Ecuador, Kenya, Senegal or China, will never leave their countries.  They will remain in their homeland.  If, however, they are going to reach all the people groups in their countries someone is going to have to cross cultural boundaries to take the Gospel.

I wish every pastor in the U.S. would learn the importance of cross-cultural studies.  It’s not just a quaint specialized discipline for anthropologist working in the jungles…it’s a relevant issue for those who live in the land of Wal-Mart and Starbucks.

You Make The Call: What To Do About FGM?

Thirty-five years ago I began my work among the Pokot people of Kenya.  A semi-nomadic tribe, the Pokot practice initiation rites for both and girls.  For the boys, circumcision is the first of two initiation rites into manhood.  Unlike other tribes in the country, Pokot males do not perform this ritual every year but once every decade (give or take a year or so) and therefore the age of the boys for circumcision range between ten and twenty years old.  This group is identified throughout their lives as an age-set, which would include a specific name identification (equivalent to baby-boomers or millennial’s).

For Pokot girls, their initiation into adulthood is called lapan.  For those outside of Pokot this ritual is called FGM (female genital mutilation, or female circumcision).  The average age of girls who take lapan is around fourteen years.  After the procedure they are in seclusion for a month and under the care of older women.  During this time of healing the girls are instructed in the ways of proper behavior as a wife.  After the healing period the girls are then eligible for marriage.  There is usually a joint celebration at the home of relatives, a coming out party, so to speak, where gifts are brought to the parents and prospective grooms attend to inspect this year’s crop of eligible brides. (below is picture of my daughter Becky with Pokot lapan girls).

When I was a resident working in Pokot my approach to FGM was latent, meaning I was not a social activist.  As a student of anthropology I first wanted to know the meaning of lapan.  As I tell my students, before you condemn people on what they do, you should know why they do it.   I also did a great deal of field research how Pokot girls felt about this ritual as well as the Christian community.  My conclusion was that, though a disgusting and potentially life-threatening procedure, lapan is a non-salvation issue.  Working with unreached people with the Gospel, it is my opinion that every issue, no matter how repulsive it may be, is not the main thing Christians are to do.  Challenging behavior rather than confronting people with the Gospel may, in some cases, cause more harm than good.

I have been criticized because of my non-engagement in social issues.  Though I am quick to point out that I am opposed to FGM practices and talk at length with parents about its harm, it is not a cause I feel I need to champion.  I have in the past, and believe today that it is the responsibility of the local church, not a foreigner or foreign organization that should lead the charge on social issues.  The government of Kenya has made FGM illegal and it is a dying practice in Pokot, though held out by a few and vehemently defended among the Masai.

On my most recent trip to Pokot I met a local Pokot Christian who has started an organization called Exodus Rescue Education Centre.  The five targeted groups for rescue are (1) FGM (2) early forced marriage (3) cattle rustling (4) children from poor families and (5) orphans.  They now have ninety-five kids in this program, five which I interviewed (left to right).

Cheroto (15) ran away from her home because her parents wanted her to marry.  She said she didn’t want to be married to an old man but wanted to go to school.

Kamarinyang’s mom died and she was living with her grandmother.  She left her grandmother because she was insisting her granddaughter take lapan and marry. 

Celestine (16) was the third wife and has a child.  She was willing to run away and leave her child because, as she told me, “I was treated as a slave and abused.”

Loremoi (back row) was a cattle rustler, which is the main occupation for Pokot boys who don’t go to school.  He told me that he regrets those days as he was involved in killing people in cattle raids.  He wants to go college one day.

Mnangai left his grandparents applied to Exodus because they were too poor to help him go to school.

I am inclined to help this social project, but I still have questions.  What is your opinion?  This is one of those case studies where I challenge missionaries…You Make The Call.